And although legend has it that some addicts have had to take time off because academics took second place to foosball, not everyone takes his foos so seriously. Even for the foosers who rank in the upper echelon of the Quincy ladder, it's still just a game.

"I just like to play, winning or losing," says top-ranked player Jen who is "not at all intense" although he admits winning is "more enjoyable."

Jen's foosing partner of four years, John Cheng '86 agrees. "I don't think we were ever really intense." The game itself, not the outcome, is what counts, Cheng says. "It mattered whether or not we played well. We have never argued over winning or losing."

"People are really tolerant of people who try regardless of their ability," Jewett says. But the uninitiated are puzzled by the sight of the same people huddled around the table at all hours, discussing push and pull shots, and yelling "challenge!"

The View From Outside

"I think it's a very intense game. I'm afraid of anyone whose intensity for a nonintellectual game exceeds the concentration they would devote to their driving," says Dudley House affiliate David MacDonald '88, a "reformed foosball addict" who still plays about once a week.

But living with these addicts is not always easy for the non-fooser. While some avoid this problem by living with their foosing partners, others have to deal with foos fanatics. "We knew he played," says Jack R. Polsky '88 of his roommate Ross. "He's come into his room and curse and slam the door. Other nights he's come home in a fantastic mood," Polsky says. "It definitely affects how he acts."

"We think it's hilarious," Polsky says, but adds that he wouldn't care to try the sport himself. "It's sort of like smoking. You don't want to get the habit."

A Fooser's Guide

Although Currier, Leverett, Dunster, Dudley, Lowell and the Freshman Union have tables, Quincy House is the center of foosing life at Harvard, foosers say.

"Quincy House has usually been the Mecca," Jewett says. It has "the most active table" at Harvard, Brown says. He attributes this to the higher level of competition there as well as the strategic location of the foosball table. "You have to pass it to get to the dining hall."

Dudley House, which has two tables, has "intermediate players who play when they're not playing pool" and also a number of dedicated players, says MacDonald.

As for Currier House, foosing is at a "virtual halt" due to a broken table, Greenstein says. "The state right now is intolerable."

Although the Currier czar Philip M. Fry '88 says he hopes to get funds from House Committee for either repairs or a new table, Currier foosers are "very frustrated," Greenstein says. "We have to go to other Houses [to play]," he says. "We have nothing to take out our aggressions on."